Indonesian Forest Fires: Laskar's Story

Greenpeace went into the field two weeks ago to investigate how the haze wave was affecting communities in Sumatra and to get an insight into how the forest fires had turned people's lives upside down. 30 year old Laskar Harianja, is a single father with three children (11, 8, and 7). To feed his family, he is has to rely on his 1 hectare pineapple plantation. To build his farm, he paid about IDR 10 million for the seeds and the maintenance. When the fruit is ready for harvesting (which would have been early next year) he would have got approximately IDR 20 million. The recent forest fires destroyed all his farm. He criticized the illegal forest burning practices, but he stated to us that he is not angry, or frustrated. He is replanting his farm but to fund it and of course to feed the children, he is now working everyday with any work he can find.